How Many Bodies Do We Have?

The obvious answer is, “One!” It is obvious because your physical body is the only one you can see. How could you possibly have any more? Well, if you think you have a body and a spirit, then you might want to claim you have two bodies; a physical body and a spiritual body.

Some books will tell you that you have almost as many as you can think, each one being a vehicle or receptacle for your soul to be carried around in, or protected by. If you can think of the soul as being the kernel of you, the real you, then perhaps a simple dictionary definition can help you to understand something about the number of bodies you might have.

You see, the soul is described as the animating part of you. It is the part of you which is emotional, moral and intellectual. In fact it is jut about everything apart from your physical body! The definition gives us a clue; apart from being physical, we are emotional, mental, intellectual and vital beings. We are all of these things, and if you think about it, each has its own sensitivity; each has its own way of knowing about the world.

Your physical body will tell you whether the day is warm or cold. Your emotional body will tell you if it is a happy day or not. Your mental body will tell you the day of the week and what month it is, while your intellectual body allows you to dwell on the passage of time and its significance. In that sense, we have a “body” or sensitivity for each kind of knowing we have.

Some older religious teachings link the physical to the non-physical bodies through what they call an etheric body, one that gradually dissipates or disintegrates after the death of the physical body. In a simplified form, their understanding is that we have five bodies; the physical, etheric, astral (or desire body), the lower mental, which masters facts, and the higher mental, which is capable of wisdom and understanding. Each is a vehicle for the soul, your individual essence-of-life. Maybe the soul is our ultimate “body”. This would give us six in all.

Say for a moment then that we really do have six bodies. Does it matter? Do you need to know how many bodies you have? Millions of people have lived their lives without either knowing or caring. However, it might be interesting to consider the possibility. I will tell you why.

If you think of a human being as only a physical entity, then you do so in terms of someone who needs food, clothing and shelter. You will not understand much of what he does, and you will not be able to help him grow to his full potential. You may feed him physically, but who is to feed him emotionally, mentally or spiritually if no-one recognise that there are other aspects of him? Under such circumstances, he has to remain perforce partially undeveloped. The more facets we recognise in man, the more we can nurture and develop him.

Once man has understanding, he has the key to mastery. Part of the soul’s nature is to understand. It uses its various “bodies” to draw information from experience of life. The soul can then process into its own wisdom and understanding that same experience and understanding. By perceiving life – observing it, apprehending it – the soul learns.

It learns through the physical, through the emotional, through the mind and the soul itself until deep understanding is achieved.

This is an excerpt form the excellent book “The Seeing Eye, the Feeling Heart” by Will Ford and Linda Muir: Published by Longsdunn Press Ltd. ISBN 1 874514070

Evolution of Spiritualism by Al Batten (conclusion)

By the 1920's however, physical phenomena was on the wane leaving us with that one product, which itself was in doubt due to a wide range of abuse and fraudulent practices, prompting one of the early American pioneers, Dr. F W Prince, to comment on the state of mediumship at the time: “Mediums”, he observed, “are a different kin, for some are out and out frauds and know it, others are honest but self deluded in thinking they have psychical powers when they have none, some have a little and produce mediocre results, and a very few are able at times to produce results far beyond normal chance or circumstance and are separated from the garden variety by an enormous distance”. There’s a measure of truth in this, for mediumship is a rare gift; we must strive to protect its integrity for we diminish the communication by enslaving it to mediocrity and subjecting it to scepticism. We must continue to raise the bar and our expectations.

In the short space of 158 years we have raced from a world of horse and buggy into a Post Modern World of instant communication and instant gratification. We now six years into the 21st Century and we’re still facing significant change; we are, in fact, being redefined. We are caught between the need to satisfy a popular emotional drive to spirituality, the lure of diminished mediumship, the energy of new thought, the inertia of old thought, and an unwillingness to acknowledge our own philosophy and, in the process, are establishing a new paradigm for our religion. Spiritualism no longer has the giants of philosophy or mediumship in its religion (that is, as opposed to personalities engaged in commercialism) and it’s now reaching outside for its inspiration. In many areas of our religious practices a vacuum has been created and is being filled by a rising tide of new ideas and practices premised on enhancing spirituality. Personally I neither support them nor reject them; I speak only in the name of Spiritualism as a reasoned philosophy. They appear under the umbrella of what some call “new age” practices; emotional concepts which are centred on such beliefs as Eastern mysticism, extraterrestrial communications, spiritual rather than spirit healing, Past Life Regression, an increased emphasis on prophecy, and a drift towards psychical powers replacing mediumship; all being promoted as legitimate components of Spiritualism. And they are gaining an unparalleled acceptance by those becoming involved with Spiritualism and have moved beyond mere curiosity to become an integral part of our religious beliefs and practices.

And it is this which has led to a division within our ranks and separates us, and in many ways has split us into two distinct camps, each believing they are the way: the “New Agers” whose collective personality manifests itself in a desperate search for spirituality under the mantle of Spiritualism, bent on reshaping the religion in their own image; and the “Traditionalists” whose collective personality manifests itself in a desperate search for Spirit under the mantle of spirituality, bent on protecting their concept of the religion. And caught in between are those who are new to Spiritualism and wondering what in the world is going on!

Strangely enough, in many quarters, each camp officially engages in the commercialization of their religious practices; we’re given a gift and we put a price tag on it; there are private readings, public readings, private circles, public circles, workshops, psychic fairs, past life regressions, and spiritual counselling; all fees for service under the rationalization of spirituality and/or educating the public for the benefit of our religion. When we rationalize, we should keep in mind Oscar Wilde’s admonishment that “rationalization is the homage Ignorance pays to Truth”. A new term has been added to our wonderful trinity of philosophy, science, and religion. In many ways we are now in the business of Spiritualism. I would ask you to think about that: Is this to be the legacy of Hydesville?

The natural evolution of man’s spirit is to move closer to its’ creator, the divine source; a lifetime process of continual change ever moving closer to the purity of spirit. It’s an individual process yet is a collective process, for the spirit of man embodies the spirit of mankind. The collective spirit of mankind must therefore be on a similar path, moving closer to its’ divine source; a spiritual extension of Darwin’s theory, an evolutionary process which started at the dawn of civilization and will reach its’ ultimate conclusion somewhere off in the future history of the Universe. Society tends to measure this drive to spirituality in religious values, but polls suggest that religion is not the driving force, so how do the two relate, and are we meeting the challenge?

The common theme among religions is religiousness, ie: praying and worshipping, the practice of paying homage to a deity normally performed in churches or religious structures. But the evolution of the spirit is not a practice it’s a process, and an individual process independent of religion or church influence. This is significant because the move toward spiritual awareness by one individual will ultimately affect the spiritual values of all individuals, regardless of the time frame.

Eventually the spirit force, that great force of love, will dominate; social justice will prevail on this earthly plane, and our world will be a different place. Spiritualism defines this process and its’ ultimate conclusion. The grand design of that Great Original Mind is the purity and perfection of the Spirit, an objective of timeless relevance; yet our religious practices centre around communion with spirit and spiritual enterprise, both specific in their relevance. The process is of divine influence yet the practices are the product of human endeavour. So we must look to ourselves. We must look within ourselves and ask whether the protection of practices, the preservation of self interest, and the ego of self righteousness have unwittingly replaced those noble faculties, and for all Spiritualists who are ultimately accountable for this, are we satisfied with that?

Spiritualism represents a process; proof of spirit, the existence of a future life, and the eternal progression of the soul; a long slow deliberate process; no question of instant gratification, no quick formulae, no short cuts, no mysterious connections, no smoke and mirrors. It transcends religion for religion is based on beliefs, whereas Spiritualism is a fact; it’s a Truth.

If we accept this then it’s time to move beyond the parochialism and limitations of both the “New Age” and the “Traditional”. There is an opportunity here! If we are to have any purpose, if we are to have a true future, we must rise to the challenge of this individual drive to spirituality in a meaningful way. We must bridge the gap between the emotions of the new and the traditions of the old, and move on to a “Higher Ground”, those noble faculties, with a renewed emphasis on the true process. And we cannot go just half way; we must address the question of entrepreneurship and commercialization within our religion for it diminishes us and our credibility.

We must reach out with a clarion call to all Spiritualists to embrace our fellow human beings in true harmony; in the understanding that the principles of Knowledge, Reason, Wisdom, and Love are the true essences of Spiritualism and the Spiritual Universe, and with the simple realization that the welfare of mankind is the never ending goal of the Divine Spirit.

Andrew Jackson Davis defined the key to individual harmony as the ability to; “Keep an open mind, be willing to learn, and willing to forgive”. He also defined the moral position of a Spiritualist as one who stands erect between social and religious extremes, a central influence, a medium for the expression of progressive principles, a friend to all who would grow in wisdom and harmony. How do we measure up to that?

“The voice of our spirit is like the spirit of truth, most eloquent when manifested in deeds.” Do we manifest our deeds through the ego of self interest and self righteousness or through the voices of reason and love? We must meet that test; we owe it to our forefathers, to our children, to ourselves, and to Spiritualism.

Evolution of Spiritualism by Al Batten (continued)

So what is Davis' legacy? He taught himself to read and write, he spoke five different languages, and late in his life, at the age of 60, he even earned a medical degree. His books have been read by people from all walks of life; The Principles of Nature itself went through forty printing editions, a best seller by anyone’s standards. His view of evolution went far beyond Darwin to explain that, while man came up through the animal kingdom, his Soul evolves to other heights. His body of work is so extraordinary that to some it’s almost incomprehensible? Was he a truly spiritual man or was he a zealot embarked on an impossible mission? Is there a distinction between the two? Perhaps he was a bit of both, a spiritual man on an impossible mission. He was caught in a spiritual conundrum; he existed in two worlds, in this he had no choice. His life in the spiritual world, his precious Summerland, was an ambrosia which drew him closer and closer, never wanting to leave it but he was divided between that and, what he considered, his responsibility to mankind. To those who are not Spiritualists he might seem a work of fiction. But to those of us who are Spiritualists, we should realize that without him we would not be sitting in this auditorium today. Mediumship could not have stood the test of time without this philosophy to give it meaning. It must also be said that the philosophy would have had no meaning without the phenomena; they are interdependent. It was all started by an unschooled and functionally illiterate young man who for a period of 15 months in his life did something very special. He once said that the Truth is always simple and, in the final analysis, he left us with one simple Truth, and that Truth is Spiritualism.

So that was the beginning and what a beginning it was. After the events at Hydesville it took off like a rocket and spread like a wildfire throughout America and into the rest of the world. Its growth was phenomenal; at one point it is said that 10 million people in the USA claimed to be Spiritualists. In its first fifty years it went from its birth to its peak, but then it started to change. In fact it was destined to change right from the start, for after that initial spurt a rapidly changing world started to take its’ toll. Much of the modern world was in the midst of a religious revolution and religious institutions, in general, were facing an enormous problem; membership was on the wane and attendance had dropped to historic lows. What is surprising though, throughout all this, society’s attitude toward spirituality was changing. It was becoming a personal thing; people were starting to acknowledge that a principle of some higher truth was, and still is to this day, an important influence in their lives, regardless of religious beliefs or dogmatic influences. It seems that the more literate and well educated a society is, the less religious it becomes, and this search for individual spirituality increases. It could be said, that left to its own resources, man’s individual spirit takes over and becomes his focal point.

This change in attitude provided, and still provides to this day, a dilemma for the leadership of all religions, and ours in particular, for our problems were, and still are, compounded by the fact that we had changed in one important way; we had essentially become a one product religion; short on the noble faculties and harmony, and long on the communication we now call mediumship. And even this was and still is being redefined.. In the early days the credibility of mediumship rested on the proof of spirit through clairvoyance and physical phenomena, and the expectations were high.

Evolution of Spiritualism by Al Batten (continued)

Now to this point I have only dealt with the early part of Davis’ life; it would require more time than we have available to do it full justice, so I won’t go into his later period. But I would like to touch on something that he gave to us which has been very important in the development of Spiritualism, so let’s move forward a few years to a lecture he gave at New York in 1863. In this lecture he described how children were educated in his Summerland of the Spirit World. There appeared to him, what he called, “garden schools”, or Children’s Lyceums designed to develop a child’s own inner potential rather than force feeding them information. He believed that children were “the repository of infinite possibilities bearing the image of an imperishable and perfect being”, and he urged those in the Spiritualist movement to establish similar schools here on earth. Well the concept took off like wildfire and the Lyceum movement took on a life of its own. Some people equate it to the Sunday school movement but it was more than that; it taught children to think for themselves. It also promoted physical as well as mental development and it transcended age barriers; adults became actively involved. It was the lifeblood of our church memberships for almost 100 years well into the middle part of the 1900's; it was the future. Over the years it has declined dramatically until it is now almost nonexistent and has suffered the same fate as many Sunday school movements, competing with Sunday shopping and sports, television and such things, and is now a shadow of its former self. It was relevant to its day, a simpler more hierarchal time but in today’s world we struggle to find a relevancy for it. Can it be the repository of knowledge that it once was, does it need to be redefined, or does it have any relevance at all in this modern era? I think we, as Spiritualists, have an obligation to figure it out; “we have a responsibility here”, because we have essentially become a religion of adults and if that continues we will ultimately lose our true relevance. In any event, in today’s world it is this Lyceum movement that Davis’ name is so closely associated with, as the Father of the Lyceum more so, I think, than with Spiritualism itself.

Now we all know that sometimes appearances are not what they seem and there is an element of this with our Mr. Davis; it was not all a bed of roses. Davis had his problems with Spiritualism. At one point in his career he threatened to leave the movement; he thought spiritualists were placing too much emphasis on the phenomenal side of the religion and ignoring the philosophy. He had also developed his own outlook on life he called it “The Harmonial Philosophy”. And I would like to clear up one point on this because many people are under the misunderstanding that The Harmonial Philosophy separated Davis from Spiritualism when, in fact, it was the exact opposite, it solidified his commitment to it; but it placed the emphasis on its true meaning rather than the phenomena. He said that without an understanding of the philosophy, the phenomena were useless. He complained that people were spending too much time in circles and séances looking for the sensational and not paying enough attention to the deeper side; he called it magical Spiritualism for which he had little use. The phenomena proved the realty of the Spirit World but the philosophy was its essence; many Spiritualists of the time disagreed; they still do. He drew his line in the sand and from that time on there were tensions between Davis and Spiritualism; he believed in Spiritualism but, it could be said, he was no longer a Spiritualist. Perhaps he never was a Spiritualist in the true sense of the word if one recognizes that Spiritualism is based on mediumship and depends on it for its existence. The reality is that if the phenomena were taken out of our churches they would be empty. So I would ask you to think about that and go back to the question of “What is a Spiritualist” and those three conditions...communications, noble faculties, and harmony.

In many respects by the time that Modern Spiritualism emerged he was way ahead of it. He could exist in the Spirit World at will; he knew all about it, he defined it. He redefined the concept of the Soul and its eternal progression. He predicted the communion of Spirit and the events at Hydesville. What had he to gain from Spiritualism except the satisfaction that he was right, but even this was tainted by his difficulty in understanding its inability or willingness to go beyond the phenomena. And yet he was convinced that Spiritualism was the answer to the social injustices in the world. He was, without doubt, a reformer on a quest for universal justice and in this mission he was totally uncompromising, willing to sacrifice all.

In the field of religion, his influence was profound. As John Leonard wrote in his book, The Higher Spiritualism, “At a period when few men dared attack the dogmas of the church, he was outspoken against them, attempting to tear down the artificial and unnatural parts of the orthodox religions and to establish a natural and rational religion in their place...a religion which should retain the real and basic ideas common to all religions, namely, God, immortality and goodness, but which should do away with the unnatural and man-made ideas of original sin, damnation and the special divinity of a Christ ”. Davis held that all men were divine, since the spirit of each is an integral part of the infinite spirit; is in fact the infinite spirit, and that there can be no difference or distinction in this. Jesus was more spiritually developed than most; but he was no more a son of God than all of us are sons of God.

Evolution of Spiritualism by Al Batten (continued)

The fourth sphere is the sphere of the Supernatural, the fifth sphere is the Superspiritual, the sixth is the Supercelestial and finally on to the seventh and highest sphere which is called the Sensorium, the Spiritual Sun of the Universe, the Infinite Vortex of Love and Wisdom which is the ultimate state of progression and is almost impossible to describe. Nothing exists here except that which is pure, divine, everlasting and infinite. I like to refer to it as that great centre of spiritual gravity forever pulling us closer to a divine conclusion.

You can compare the whole process to the development of a tree with the 1st sphere being the seed, the 2nd sphere the roots, the 3rd as the trunk, the 4th the branches, the 5th the buds, the 6th the blossom, and the 7th as the beauty that blooms with an immortal fragrance. It is the Tree of Righteousness, because all is right and there is no wrong. It is the Tree of Goodness, because nothing is evil. It is the Tree of Immortal Life, because there is no death. It is the Tree of Divine Perfection, because nothing is imperfect. It is the Tree of Truth, because there is no falsehood, it is the Tree of Love and Wisdom because there is no confusion or disunity, all is love. It is the Tree of That Great Positive Mind of the Universe, the Divine Intelligence that we call God.

And it was this part of the book that provided the foundation for Modern Spiritualism.

I mentioned earlier that Davis always claimed his revelations and writings did not come from spirit but were based solely on his own observations; sometimes however you wonder where he is coming from, some of his observations seem to get beyond him and are difficult to understand; indeed there are some sections that can best be described as stretching the imagination where he describes life and spirits on the other planets in our solar system and with physical descriptions that are staggering...... but here again he surprises by insisting over and over again, as he did throughout his career, that he is not infallible. Then again, who knows what with the recent discoveries on Mars and Saturn; we could be looking at the forms to which our Earth will eventually evolve. Regardless of how he saw things, what is really interesting he says that all revelation must take the form of the mind into which it flows, and there can be no infallible revelation. No revelation is to be accepted merely because it is revealed, but it is to be judged on its own intrinsic merits, by the standards of reason, intuition and nature, take the emotion out it. This is a most important lesson for us all. You could relate this to the acceptance of messages given through mediumship or, for that matter, any other aspect of Spiritualism.

Reason, Intuition, and Nature. Now these are terms that are used continuously in our philosophy so perhaps we should take a few minutes and explore what they really mean as they relate to Spiritualism.

Reason: The common dictionary definition states that Reason is an underlying fact or cause that provides logical sense for a premise or occurrence; the capacity for logical, rational, and analytical thought. I think we call all agree on that, but let’s take it one step further and expand it to a higher meaning. Let’s call it an investigation into the consecutive causes of anything which leads us deep into the spiritual origin of the thing being investigated, or of all things for that matter.

Intuition: Dictionary definition...The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition, perspective insight. That sounds reasonable but lets put a different spin on it and say that within Spiritualism it is an opening of the mind to the full penetration of thought, the innate power of feeling a Truth; it is the genius of the Soul.

Nature: Dictionary definition.......The material world, the world of living things and the outdoors. When we talk about Spiritualism this is far too limiting, it has to include everything in existence, both material and spiritual. A universe in which nothing is self existent or stands alone but where all things, material and spiritual, are tied together in a divine brotherhood of interlinking dependencies.

And finally we talk a lot about Truth for the ultimate destination of reason, intuition, and nature is the Truth: Dictionary definition.....Truth, that which is considered to be the supreme reality; to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence. I’m Ok with that but it still doesn’t seem to go far enough: “Truth must be the universal relationship of things as they are. It is the ultimate knowledge: it’s the beginning, middle and end of all inquiry. It is unchangeable: the same yesterday, today, and forever......and it is always simple, always harmonious, infinite and eternal” And how do we find the Truth; it’s simple, just go to that spark of your own divinity, the innermost secret chamber of your Soul; the place where the spirit of God lives: the home of Reason, Intuition, and Nature.

The Second Decade

As we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century, let us redouble our efforts to spread the inner light of the Spirit throughout our lost and troubled world. Let us devote a short period of each day to seek the stillness that is at the heart of each one of us; the stillness that speaks to us of eternity and love and compassion and of tolerance.

The world has become so consumed by the illusion of material wealth and power, that we are in danger of condemning future generations to a struggle for physical existence that will make the efforts made in the past to rise from our primitive origins seem as nothing compared to what they will have to endure. It is all so unnecessary; the Great Over-mind has so arranged things that the Earth can provide everything we need for a fulfilling life of preparation for our future in the spiritual realms. All it needs is for humanity to re-examine our priorities, recognise the realities of spiritual existence and understand that the treasures of the earth are for us to share with one another and protect for future generations.

Greed and materialism blind us to this reality. They bind the eyes of the inner spirit with the illusion that Earth is real and Spirit is a dream. In fact the reverse is the case. Earth, beautiful as it is, is a mere shadow of the brilliance and beauty of the spiritual world. When we consider what a beautiful place is Earth, then imagine a world ten or a hundred times more so and we begin to approach an understanding of the difference between the illusion of earthly power and beauty and the reality of the world of spirit where love, unconditional love, rules. Greed and materialism condemn us to a much greater sojourn in the darkness of materialistic misunderstanding than is intended for us. Free will is the greatest of the gifts we have received from the Great Over-mind and using it we can choose to bring forward the dawn of heavenly reality, or continue to flounder in the morass of ‘earthly delights’ for as long as we wish.

The choice is ours but in choosing we must remember nothing happens in a vacuum. Every choice we make has a greater or lesser effect upon all others. “Not a sparrow falls but what the Father knows.” This is because all life is interconnected through the power of Spirit. Each time we choose the selfish or materialistic option, so the darkness surrounding us becomes slightly denser, whereas when we choose to follow the promptings of our inner, higher self, so the light surrounding us shines more brightly. Because of our interconnection with all other life that shares the Earth with us, the increase or decrease in the light we carry within us is communicated to all. Thus as John Donne, the Elizabethan poet claimed, “No man is an island, entire unto himself.”

Thus we see that “personal responsibility,” one of the foundations of the philosophy of Spiritualism, is in reality mutual: I truly am my brother’s keeper in this respect. Because, to quote Alexander Pope, “All are but parts of one stupendous whole, whose body nature is and God the soul,” and because light will always eliminate darkness, the smallest step in the direction of spreading the light of spiritual understanding will have a disproportionate effect upon the darkness with which humanity has clothed this beautiful globe. Thus can we be encouraged that even though at present we may be few, the continuing impact of light emission from a few individuals will soon create a change for the better. Let us move into this second decade confident in the power of the spirit to “lighten our darkness” if only we will have trust, determination and above all, love.

Happy New Decade to you all. - Lionel

Evolution of Spiritualism

Here are some more words of wisdom from Al Batten's presentation to the ISF Congress in July 2006.


Then he moves on to the essence of what the Soul is. Now this is pretty deep stuff and can be a little slow and tedious, so please bear with me for the next few minutes. Philosophy is interesting but sometimes you have to work your way through it.

He calls the Soul a prior organization (remember this because it opens up a whole new interesting area for discussion) that assumeJulys a material body, a coating if you will, when it presents itself to the material world. We talked about the fact of Matter and Motion being the essences of all life forms but he goes on to an ultimate conclusion by stating that the physical aspect of man is the perfection of all Matter and the spiritual aspect of man is the perfection of all Motion. He then he goes even further to explain that the Soul is comprised of three distinct parts; Love, Will, and Wisdom. Now we are getting into some pretty deep stuff here because it is pure philosophy; it’s abstract and it’s conceptual. Not objective, can’t see it, can’t touch nor feel it, and we can’t draw a picture of it, but it is a reality, so we need to switch to a different thought process, to that internal light and imagine the realm of the spiritual.

Love is the basic element of the human soul. He calls it that delicate and inexpressible element which is felt in the depths of every human spirit. It is the essence of the soul; the element that conceives all of the loveliness, all of the gentleness, all of sweetness, and all of the beauty in all things. It is the germ or the seed of the Soul.

Will, (we might call it will power) is a living force which connects Love and Wisdom. You might call it an independent element of the mind which is beyond the influence of external forces yet it can’t act on its own, it’s a slave to the influences of both Love and Wisdom. It’s the force that influences the body to move and it’s the means by which Love achieves its’ objectives. Love, in effect, prompts the Will to act. It has no independence of action and can’t initiate a movement; it only moves on the prompting of Love.

Wisdom is the third faculty of the soul; it is in fact the perfection of Love. It’s the highest and most perfect element of the Soul; the glue that binds it together. It flows from love, is directed by experience, modified by will, and rendered perfect by knowledge. He calls it the thinking principle, the faculty which investigates searches, calculates and analyses. It is, in fact, the faculty of the soul which gives order and form to all things in the outer world.

And the sum total of this Soul originated and can only exist through the Natural Law of Cause and Effect. The Divine Intelligence that Great Positive Mind is the Cause, the Universe is the Effect, and Spirit is the ultimate Design.

So now he has given us an idea of what constitutes the Soul or Spirit and we’ve made it to the Spirit World. What’s it like there? What is it and where is it? There are lots of opinions on this one but in the final analysis there is no consensus on its makeup. The concept of a spirit world, in fact Spiritualism itself, has been with us since the dawn of civilization; we see it early in history with the ancient tribes of Egypt, as the concept of the Elysian Fields in Greek mythology, in other words the concept of a heavenly Paradise. It was written about by Socrates who went to jail and died for his Spiritualism and by Plato, discussed in the Christian Bible; Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for refusing to denounce her spirit guides... and, in what you might call modern times, in the 18th it was first documented through the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg in his masterpiece 12 volume work titled “Arcana Coelestia”.

Davis expands on all the previous theories with a rationality that is very reverent but devoid of emotion, and leads us to “the grand design of the Divine Intelligence in which there are seven spheres of existence or development”. Even as Spiritualists we tend to think only of a “Spirit World” but it’s obviously much more complex.

The first sphere is the one with which we are most familiar, we exist in it, human life in the natural world where we each progress at our own speed to levels that are driven by our interests. It is important to recognize that in this sphere we are all on an individual journey, moving at different speeds and influenced by different conditions and circumstance. It’s not a race but we all end up at the same finish line. Once you recognize the significance of this, it makes life much easier.

The second sphere is spiritual life in the Spirit World in which he describes three societies. In the first are children who were taken before their time and, in a strange twist, there are also other undeveloped spirits who you might classify as undesirable and are in much lower stages of advancement. It’s sort of a triage unit where the children are placed with caring spirits who specialize in nurturing the young and then there are all those others who sort themselves out into groups with similar interests; like attracts like and you are what you want to be, even in the Spirit World. It’s all a matter of personal choice, as it is here in the natural world. Everyone however is mandated to a process of progression eventually recognizing their imperfections and all, without exception, are subject to the divine influence of love and all eventually learn to love, and it is love that facilitates the progression. In the second society we find spirits who are learning about the principles and truths of the Divine Mind and this is where Spirits with common interests are starting to help each other in their progression. It’s probably where most of us start our life in this new world. It is known as the Society of Causes where the occupants gain an understanding of the law of cause and effect but haven’t yet learned the potential uses for which the law was intended.

The third society is called the Plane of Effects where they’re getting into the heavy stuff, getting to know the uses of the laws of cause and effect, and are moving towards an understanding of the ultimate design and the universal relationship of things to each other and with this new knowledge are preparing to advance to the third world of existence.......

The third sphere is the Celestial World, one of celestial purity. And here again are three societies: the 1st contains the components of the soul; the forces of Love, Will, and Wisdom which correspond to the perfection of Love. And the 2nd is the perfect harmony of these three forces working together towards perfected Wisdom; and the 3rd is moving towards celestial purity. And this is where we find our guardian angels who minister to all those in the lower spheres and who have no other goal than to gratify their thirst for purity. It is also said that the knowledge of this sphere is entirely beyond the comprehension of human understanding.

We also gain an understanding that there is a physical dimension to these spheres. There are forests, plains, rivers and lakes with all the beautiful physical features we find on earth, except here they are more perfect in their nature and, since the senses are more refined in this world, the beauty takes on a spiritual connotation with is far more distinctive and is a direct reflection of the spiritual development of the individual mind. I call it a spiritually induced reality.

As to the question of where is it? .... Well that’s where the imagination starts to run wild. Strangely enough, in this book, Davis doesn’t shed any light on it except to explain that it comes from the earth and depends upon the earth for its existence and also that it exists within a system of suns and planets similar to the Milky Way system. In his later works he goes into much more detail and, in fact, gives a dimensional characteristic to the spheres, ie; they exist in specific distances from the surface of the earth. Others have supported this but there are so many different opinions that it gets confusing: ie: that the first sphere is at 50 miles with subsequent spheres at similar distance rising up to 300 miles, another says the first starts at 500 miles rising to 18,000, another states that it actually exists within the earths atmosphere and may in fact extend down into the earth.

There are obviously too many opinions to form any consensus. Swedenborg didn’t attempt to give his spirit world any definite location in space, claiming that, since it was spiritual, it was outside of the material order of things and, therefore, did not exist in time and space. Consequently his spirit world could have no spatial relationship to earth.

The great British Spiritualist, Arthur Findlay, theorized that it was all around us at different levels of vibration; an interesting theory also proposed by the American author, James Redfield in the Celestine Prophecy. Since we all exist in an atmosphere of etheric gasses, I personally think that it could exist as a combination of the vibration theory within an atmosphere of etheric densities that are sensitive to the vital principle of thought. However there is no consensus on it and there are obviously too many opinions to make any sense of it; but Davis was convinced that advances in technology would eventually lead to the scientific discovery of the Spirit World, wherever it is.

But regardless of the lack of consensus let’s return to those first three spheres. Davis classifies them as the doorway through which spirit enters into highest levels of development; the fourth to the seventh spheres. I won’t get into a description of each one because words really aren’t enough to give us an idea of the progression that takes place. It’s a spiritual unfoldment that’s totally beyond human comprehension. In his writings we find phrases like: “Every form and thing is constantly growing lovelier and lovelier, and every sphere is more beautiful and pure.” “Every mind is like an open flower”. “Here are the fields of Paradise; and on them is erected the house of many mansions” “Here are all the beauties of earth and heaven combined, developed and perfected”.